Myoko Chronicles
by NeonBlue27
Summary: A young Shinx named Myoko is separated from her pack, and forced to ride out a storm in the care of a friendly young Nidoran called Nexus. What lies in store for these new friends?
1. The Storm

The rain poured down heavily, and a low mist hung over the area. A lone figure trudged wearily across the clearing, seeking shelter from the downpour. The creature was feline in appearance, being less than 2 feet tall, and had large, round ears that were an odd shade of yellow on the inside. Its body was blue from the waste up, except for a single yellow band on each foreleg and a scruff of black fur around its neck, and its rear was black, except for the ninja star-like tip on its tail, which was that same yellow color, and the blue area covering its hind paws, a trait that identified the Shinx as a female.

She cast her gaze over the area, her odd pink-colored eyes seeking out a possible shelter. Not far off there was a small wood, but the trees weren't clustered very closely together. It would work as cover, but only to some extent.

Her train of thought was interrupted by a sudden, sharp sneeze. "Damn it, I need to get out of this rain," she muttered angrily to herself, setting off at a much quicker pace than before. It wasn't certain but she had a suspicion that she was catching a cold, and it would only get worse if she stayed out here much longer.

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The Shinx stopped and looked about. She was in the middle of the wood, and had just realized that somewhere along the way she had started climbing a hill. She was about halfway up, and couldn't see much through the leaves of the denser trees around the base of the hill.

Still looking for a possible shelter, she spotted a group of berry bushes nearby. It wasn't much, but she could probably slip in under them to keep dry, and maybe get a bite to eat as well. Wiping her face to get water out of her eyes, she stood back up and walked over to the berry bushes, poking amongst them to find a hollow area of some sort that she could slip into.

"What's this?" She had found something, alright. In the ground, just under the bush next to her where minimal rainwater would fall into it, was a hole larger than her. In fact, on closer examination, it seemed to be a burrow, probably left by some Pokemon who had resided there before.

She blinked, questioning if she should enter. It was possible that the Pokemon who made the den was still there. Then again, the Pokemon couldn't be much bigger than her if it resided in such a small tunnel.

A thunderclap behind her cleared her mind of indecision. Being an electric type, she was more afraid of what might happen to the trees on this higher ground, and of being trapped out in the rain by a fire. Going underground seemed like a much better option at that point.

As she trekked deeper into the burrow, she admired the work done by the one who had dug it. In the entrance tunnel there had been put up a small wall and a few side tunnels to help prevent flooding.

Finally, she stepped out of the tunnel and into a small cave of sorts. Granted, it was still only about twice her size, but that was pretty huge for one of her size. Glad to have a place to stop and rest, she sat down and went to work licking as much of herself dry as she could. It wasn't long, though, before she gave over to exhaustion, letting herself collapse to the floor and drift off into sleep.

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Almost an hour later, another figure approached the burrow. Unlike the first, this one knew where it was going. It hopped right to the burrow and slipped in; sneaking down the tunnels like it had done countless times before.

Then it noticed the scent. There was the scent of another Pokemon in the air, a female to be exact. It was a fresh scent, less than an hour old, and it was getting stronger as the figure got closer to his den. In its haste to see who had intruded upon its burrow, it lost its footing and tumbled down the last few feet, landing hard on the Shinx below.

In a matter of seconds, the Shinx had been jerked awake and flung the attacker off of her, pouncing on it immediately, growling as the sparks her species was known for jolted through her body and built up in her fur. By the light of her own electricity, she could see the one who had awoken her clearly. It was a Nidoran, a small, rabbit-like creature with pins on its back, long, spiky ears that had a green color on the inside, and a single poisonous horn on its forehead. This one was purple in color, with darker purple spots on its knees, signifying it was a male, and thus having a stronger poison than the female counterpart. As it is, Nidoran don't have fur, instead being protected by a smooth but tough hide.

Still angered at her rude awakening, the Shinx snarled, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The Nidoran was trembling slightly, being a little bit smaller than her, but he spoke with no less malice than she had. "I should be asking you the same thing! This is my den!"

The Shinx was taken aback. He was the one who lived here? It seemed a bit large for such a small creature. Nonetheless, she didn't see why he would lie, or why else someone would approach this place, so she decided to take a chance and stood up for a moment to sniff the air.

He wasn't lying. Now that she paid attention she could tell that the whole cave was covered in his scent, except for the spot she had laid in just moments ago. It was a light scent, with only the faintest hint of musk. She guessed the Nidoran must be an adolescent, not much older than herself.

The Nidoran was still staring at her with his harsh red eyes. She stepped back, bowing her head in apology as the electricity dissipated back through her body. Despite this, she could still make out his shape quite clearly in the darkness, thanks to her feline traits."I…I'm sorry, I thought I was under attack. I only came here to seek shelter from the storm; I didn't know you made this den."

The Nidoran got to his feet as he spoke. "It's okay, really, but you gave me quite a fright. I never get visitors around here, aside from the occasional stray Rattata, especially not in the middle of a storm. Oh, and by the way, I didn't make the den; my father did while I was still just an egg."

The Shinx sighed in relief. She hadn't wanted to fight; she was far too weary from traveling in that storm. Slowly, being careful not to offend him, she asked, "Sir…may I stay for the night? I've traveled far and don't think I can handle the storm any longer."

The Nidoran smiled as best a Nidoran can, trying to appear friendly to his new guest. "Well, of course! I have the room don't I? But may I at least ask the name of my guest?"

The Shinx blinked. Her name? She hadn't thought to tell him that. She didn't even know him, for Arceus' sake, but she couldn't refuse to tell him after he agreed to let her stay for the night. "My name's Myoko."

The Nidoran nodded. "Nice to meet you, I'm Nexus. Now then, you look tired. Why don't you go back to sleep and I'll go check to make sure the burrow's hidden properly? I do think I left the entrance quite uncovered."

Myoko said nothing. She was grateful for the stranger's help, but she still didn't know if she could trust him, so she didn't feel right sleeping while he was still awake. Nexus seemed kind enough, but how was she to determine whether or not he was sincere? She was about to open her mouth to speak once more when she realized he had already scampered off to take care of things. Sighing, she curled up against the wall and went to sleep, hoping she could trust the Nidoran to do her no harm.


	2. Night Into Day

_**To the few fans I have, I am so sorry it took me so long. I'm not good at keeping projects going. I actually wrote the nighttime scene several months ago but after that I didn't write any more or even give it much thought until today. **_

_**~Dave~**_

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_It was dark, except for one small patch of light. In the light sat a single figure. Myoko, the Shinx, was alone, and for some reason, very scared. She couldn't move, all she could do was sit there and cry._

"Where are they…"

As if on cue, she heard a familiar male voice calling her name.

"_Myoko!"_

_She looked up. Could it really be him?_

"_Tyco?"_

_She waited for a moment, and then heard the voice sound again, this time fainter._

"_Myoko!"_

_Alarmed, she stood up._

"_Tyco! Don't go," she yelled, darting off in the direction of the voice. As soon as she stepped out of the light, though, she fell down into the darkness, hearing only the faint echoes of the voice that had only a moment ago sounded so clear._

It was a while later when Nexus came back. If the clouds had permitted, he would have been able to tell that it was past midnight. As he strode into the main cave, he dragged behind him by a small branch two large, round berries. They weren't like the ones on the bushes outside; while those berries had been very small and of a light color, these were large and a deepest blue. These were Oran berries, and they grew high up in the branches of the surrounding trees.

As he strode in and laid the branch down, Nexus thought cheerfully to himself. _What luck! I can't believe how much calmer the storm is now. Not to mention that I was able to find these Oran berries. This should be a pleasant surprise for Myoko when she wakes up._

Remembering the Shinx, he looked around, squinting in an attempt to make out her figure in the darkness. It was hard, but he found her soon, although not by his vision.

_Is that…_

He had noticed a faint, whimpering sound in the cave. In fact, it was very light, a mere whisper, and he probably wouldn't have heard it had he been out in an open area, but in this enclosed space all sounds were magnified to some degree by the echoes of the cave.

He turned his head in the direction of the noise. As he had expected, the feline form of Myoko was huddled up against the wall, shivering and whimpering, much as a young one afraid of the monsters hiding in the shadows will. It didn't take long for it to occur to him that the Shinx was having a bad dream, possibly due to sickness from overexposure to the cold.

Taking a glance at the opposite wall, where his makeshift bed of grass and other, somewhat soft materials was, he gave a small sigh. Stepping forward, he nudged the Shinx gently, speaking softly.

"Myoko…wake up…"

The feline gave a small twitch, but remained asleep. Nexus tried again, this time giving her a slight poke with one of his small claws, and speaking somewhat louder.

"Myoko…"

This time his efforts were not in vain, as Myoko rolled over, and, giving a small yawn, blinked her eyes open. It was quite obvious with merely a glance that she was still half-asleep, and when she finally spoke, which took a while as she didn't at first remember the day's events, there was a note of weariness in her voice.

"Hm…Nexus? Why'd you wake me up?"

Nexus gave a nod of his head in the direction of the bed and said, "You were shivering, so I thought you might like a warmer place to sleep. Go lay down over there, it's much more comfortable and not quite as exposed to the chill." Seeing that she was about to give a half-hearted protest, he added, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Too tired to argue the point further, Myoko stood up and walked over to the spot he had mentioned, once more laying down and curling up to get comfortable. Just before slipping off into her dreams once more, she blinked an eye open and mumbled, "Thanks…"

Lying down in a spot nearby, Nexus gave a small hum of agreement, but it fell upon the deaf ears of one who had already entered the world of the dreaming.

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Myoko awoke to find herself alone once more. Nexus was nowhere to be found, and his scent was faint. It had probably been several hours since he had left. Giving a slight yawn, she stretched and got to her feet.

Looking around the small den, Myoko let her gaze fall on the small branch laid across the room from her. It forked in two about halfway up, with one side bearing a berry. The other was bare aside from a small cluster of leaves where the second berry had once been.

It occurred to her that she hadn't eaten since the previous morning. She considered taking the Oran berry for herself, thinking that that was probably why it was still there, but she was hesitant. If she was wrong, would Nexus be upset with her? It wouldn't be good for her to get into a fight with him so soon after meeting him.

Eventually hunger won over nobility. With a quick flick of a claw she sliced the berry from the branch and hungrily dug her teeth into the sweet fruit.

--

After finishing her meal, the young Shinx emerged from the den into bright sunlight. It was noontime, and the sun hung high over the forest, a sharp contrast to the cloud-covered sky she had seen before. The sudden change from darkness to light hurt her eyes, and she had to close them for a few minutes. When she opened them again, though, she got a good look at her surroundings.

As she had seen the night before, she was more than halfway up the hill and the treetops surrounded her at this level. What she hadn't seen before, though, was that the hill itself rose a ways higher, being more like a miniature mountain. From the top one could probably see the whole forest.

From behind her a familiar voice called out, "Ah, finally awake, are we?"

She spun around. Coming down from the top of the hill was Nexus, looking much better than he had during their tussle the previous night. He stopped in front of her and said, with a tilt of his head, "Well you certainly were tired, weren't you?"

Myoko nodded her head in agreement. "You have no idea. Speaking of which, where were you?"

"Oh, I just had some business to take care of over by the stream…what, did I say something funny?"

Myoko was giving him a look like he had just sprouted wings and flown. "There's a stream around here?"

It was Nexus' turn to give her an odd look. "You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't. I've never been this far from my pack's territory."

"Well, where is that?"

She looked around, but couldn't make out anything familiar in the area. After a long pause, she admitted, "I honestly don't know." Giving a depressed sigh, she laid down with her head on her paws. "I had been going to go home today but…I don't even know where home is!"

Perhaps out of sympathy, Nexus laid down next to her. "Now don't be like that… come on, maybe we can figure it out if you tell me what it's like?"

Giving a sigh, she replied, "Well…it's outside of the forest, over in the plains somewhere…it's not near a stream…I don't know anything useful, though." She buried her face deeper in her paws.

Pressing his cheek against hers reassuringly, the Nidoran attempted to console his friend. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure we can figure it out later. Look, why don't we go down to the river so you can get cleaned up and get a drink of water?"

Looking up slowly, she gave a slight nod, and the two stood up and began making their way over the hill.


End file.
